Fantasy

Over the years I have written a number of fantasy novels, many of them set in the Warhammer World. Fantasy is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, my favourite genre to work in. I have loved it ever since I was a kid and first encountered the works of Robert E Howard, JRR Tolkien, Michael Moorcock and Ursula LeGuin.

Most of my fantasy works are in the sub-genre of Sword and Sorcery. Gotrek and Felix, in particular, are heavily influenced by such classics as Conan, Elric and Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Somebody somewhere on the Internet once described the G&F books as classic 30s pulp sword and sorcery only done with a sense of humour. That is pretty much my ideal review for the series. I like the swaggering, violent action of sword and sorcery but I tend to find myself taking the piss out of its cliches as well.

Recently I have veered into the epic fantasy genre with Tyrion and Teclis. Being enormously powerful High Elf Princes this pair tend to operate on a much higher plane than Gotrek and Felix. The dwarf and human are scruffy wandering adventurers in the classic S&S mould. They lower the tone of any place where they show up. Tyrion and Teclis are different. They stand at the centre of things. They lead Elvish armies. They confront the mightiest of daemons and greatest of threats. They attend the courts of the mighty such as the Phoenix King and the Everqueen, places where they would not let Gotrek and Felix in even by the back door. The elves exist in a courtly world of beauty, art and high ideals. It all looks very glamourous and everyone tells everyone else how honourable, glorious, honest and well-behaved they are, but if you look closely you will see that this is no more the case than it is anywhere else in the Warhammer world. The books were enormous fun to write.